Jul 28, 2012
Our guest today is Professor Sarah Symons who joins Justin Trottier at The Star Spot to enlighten us about ancient Egyptian sophisticated conceptions of the night sky. The conversation ranges from understanding the intimate interplay between the supernatural and the scientific, to the practical uses of the stars for such purposes as predicting the flood of the Nile, and to the role of special classes of stars in ancient Egyptian myth and ritual.
Dr. Symons shares
her enthusiasm in detailing how the night sky was at the centre of
Egyptian religion. Pharoahs sought to transform themself into
celestial beings, while the very body of one goddess formed the
foundation of the Egyptian conception of celestial regularities. To
close their conversation, the two reflect on why ancient Egypt
continues to catalyze so much wild and crazy pseudoscentific and
pseudoastronomical theorizing.
In Current in Space we discuss the illuminating findings from the
nineth collection of UFO files recently turned over by the British
government, then prepare for the August 6th landing of the Mars
Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover by exploring the many unique
attributes of this most exciting mission to the red
planet.